


It Took A Minute

by Mamichigo



Series: tumblr requests [2]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: But then it goes right thanks to Kokichi, Date gone wrong, First Dates, First Meetings, Flirting, M/M, Oblivious Saihara Shuichi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-01
Updated: 2018-08-01
Packaged: 2019-06-20 00:46:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15522372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mamichigo/pseuds/Mamichigo
Summary: Kaede had been really insistent that he should stop moping and actually try out online dating, so Shuichi decides to give it a try. He deeply regrets the decision when he gets stood up.Luckily, Kokichi decides to save him from his misery so he won't have to spend the evening alone.





	It Took A Minute

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LostCopperDragon (Red_0)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Red_0/gifts).



> Man, I've been working on this request for so fucking long now, I'm really sorry it took me so much to get it done. You know how it be sometimes.
> 
> A little warning that I didn't how to properly fit in the tags, but there's some self deprecation in Shuichi's internal monologue. Not anything bad or depressing, more along the lines of "why have I done this to myself, when will god strike me down for my sins" kind of thing. Just thought I'd make sure in case this makes someone uncomfortable.
> 
> "It took a minute, girl, to steal my heart tonight" - Stole My Heart, by One Direction (shut up don't judge me).
> 
> Full prompt:  
> bunmikuu: [ vibrates ] heyhey can you write, that one things where: person A gets stood up on a date, and it about to leave the restaurant / diner place, really upset, but then person B, a stranger, sits across from them, and announces that traffic was really bad- and whispers, my name is [x], just go with it. They have the date, and both enjoyed it; and after, person B asked them on a real date. And with Oumasai please and thank s

Shuichi should’ve have known that going along with Kaede’s idea to try out online dating wouldn’t end up well for himself. To be fair, it hadn’t sounded _too_ bad at the beginning—he even got a little optimistic for a moment there, seeing the light in the opportunity of not having to endure Kaede berating him for his pathetic, lonely Friday nights and, who knows, he might actually find someone nice at some point—, but now Shuichi was regretting every decision that brought him to this moment.

“This moment” being Shuichi, sitting alone in a table for two for over an hour, awkwardly sipping on a cup of water ordered in a desperate action in response to the judging stare of the waiter—though now Shuichi was pretty sure the man had changed from judgmental to pitying, which is understandable really, Shuichi is pitying himself too. The nice but not too expansive restaurant got increasingly depressing with each passing second, which got Shuichi staring at the tabletop and contemplating the eternal nap he was getting as soon as he got home, right after a nice session of utter shame.

Maybe he should’ve taken his pillow on a date instead. On his bed.

If Shuichi concentrated hard enough, he would be able to feel the eyes of everyone in the room; it was probably just his imagination, but Shuichi was willing to accept that every single person in the world was now questioning which entity thought it was a good idea to let him out of the womb. Shuichi himself was questioning that.

Waiting for almost an hour for someone who’s probably not going to show up does that to you.

A sigh escapes from him, his body completely slumped over the table now. Shuichi glances at his wristwatch (he actually dressed up for this, which just makes the whole situation sadder) and taps a finger on his own forearm, following the rhythm of the clock. Just one more minute and he’ll be heading home, as embarrassing as he knows it’ll be for him.

At least he can tell Kaede he tried, right? And who knows, the waiter’s newfound sympathy for him might compel the man to pray for Shuichi’s soul, so maybe Shuichi will be getting something out of this whole thing.

His thoughts are very rudely interrupted by someone clearing their throats, making Shuichi look up with a frown, expecting to see a staff member coming to put him out of his misery. Instead, a man in a white suit grins at him.

“I’m so sorry, did you wait long? My bad! Traffic was horrible on the way, I should’ve predicted that, silly me!” The man says in a cheerful voice and Shuichi stares, gaping.

He can’t quite find the words to reply to that, mostly because his date is supposed to be a bearded guy and with a pretty average haircut. But the man in front of him has dark purple hair tied up in a small ponytail and no facial hair to be seen—he’s really cute, but that’s beside the point right now.

“This is a kinda weird case of catfish,” Shuichi blurts out, all the embarrassment and nervousness in his body completely destroying his brain to mouth filter.

“What are you talking about? Did you wait for so long that your brain cells rotted?” Yes, exactly, but _that_ is not the point either. “You’re being weird! Let’s just eat, I’m starving.”

The man proceeds to sit down on the chair across Shuichi, seemingly not at all concerned about this situation. Shuichi continues to stare at him, hoping it’ll convey enough confusion to get an answer. God, this is why he doesn’t get out of his house.

The man leans forward on his elbows, a smile on his lips and hand cupping one side of his mouth, as if he’s about to reveal a secret to Shuichi.

“Just go along, okay? You looked pathetic so I decided to have mercy on your soul! But in exchange I want to know the story here,” the man tells him in a low voice. He cocks his head a bit to the side. “A forgetful lover, maybe? No, no, wait! You mentioned catfishing, so maybe online dating?”

Shuichi honestly feels like a blind chicken that just got told it needs to run to survive. The feeling must make its way onto his expression, because the man leans even further, eyebrows raised.

“You don’t have anything to lose, right? Not like you are terribly busy here,” he insists, pointedly gesturing to his cup of water.

Still, no reply comes as Shuichi is still trying to get his head around the situation; he fidgets with his glass, moving it from side to side—and almost letting it stumble from his hands—glances at his wristwatch again, at the waiter who gives him a smile and a thumbs up as soon as they make visual contact. Well, he really _doesn’t_ have anything to lose, does he?

“Can I at least get a name before I tell a stranger about my embarrassing love life?” Shuichi asks, finally, forcing a smile onto his face so he won’t look as nervous as he feels (he probably fails miserably).

“Oh, so you _can_ speak! You were just staring at me for so long I was about to whip out some sign language to see if it worked.” Unlike Shuichi’s smile, which he was certain resembled more of grimace, the man in front of him beamed brightly, perking up as soon as he heard Shuichi’s word. “The name is Kokichi Ouma, Mr. Sad Sips of Water.”

“Oh god, please don’t call me that.” Shuichi eyed the glass in his hands ruefully. “Shuichi Saihara, just Shuichi is fine.”

“Wow, straight to first name basis, I see! I like your style, Shuichi,” Kokichi praised. Then, he smiled mischievously at Shuichi, eyes glinting. “So, go on. Spill.”

 “Shouldn’t we actually order something first at least?” Shuichi questioned, unable to bear anymore judgment from anyone that night.

“Don’t be silly, of course we’ll order, I’m starving! But you’re not getting away from this, so you better start talking. I don’t mind if it’s a long story, I’m a patient man.” Kokichi puts a palm under his chin, leaning on it, his pinky just barely touching the corner of his mouth as he smiles and looks up from his eyelashes. Oh, he’s _very_ attractive. _Abort mission._ “We’ve got the whole night, Shuichi.”

Shuichi doesn’t recall having agreed to spend the rest of the night with Kokichi, but he nods regardless of that, accepting the idea of being in the other’s presence way too easily.

And so, he does as asked, going as far as explaining how the whole thing started—the hours spent either working or watching bad TV shows until the sun is peeking out in the horizon and he’s regretting his choices yet again; how Kaede thought that was a sad way to live his life. Kokichi listens with interest, leaning forward on his elbow, eyes focused entirely on Shuichi.

Kokichi doesn’t just watch, nodding along and making small comments here and there, laughing for the most part. Some of those comments sound weirdly like compliments, but Shuichi is trying his best to ignore them and how it makes his stomach flip.

The unwavering attention is a little disconcerting, something Shuichi isn’t used to, but it doesn’t exactly bother him. Even if his heart speeds up every single time Kokichi smiles _just so_ , purple eyes full of mirth, like he knows something more, a private joke that Shuichi isn’t aware of.

“So, let me see if I got this right. Your friend convinced you to try online dating because you were watching too many episodes of Friends and in the end it only made your life reach a new level of pathetic?” Kokichi asked once he was done with the story and they have their orders on the table.

“I- Well, I wouldn’t put it that way, but yes, pretty much.” Shuichi rubbed the back of his neck; he didn’t feel as bad as he did before Kokichi showed up, but the embarrassment was still fresh.

“Oh my god, that’s the funniest thing I’ve heard this week,” Kokichi said, laughing a little too enthusiastically about it. Shuichi considers throwing a piece of his chicken at the other to wipe the smug smirk off his face. “You’re lucky you’re cute enough to get my attention, now you’ve got me here to make your life better!”

The smile on Kokichi’s face widened and he was giving him a look that messed with all of Shuichi’s organs, like they were revolting and fighting to break out of his body. Shuichi takes a long swig of his drink—wine this time, instead of water—so his throat won’t be as dry; but even then, the liquid doesn’t go down easily and he’s sure Kokichi can hear the hard swallow. Going by how much his face is burning at the moment, Shuichi is willing to bet that he looks like a very nervous lobster.

His reaction seems to earn a giggle from Kokichi, and although he isn’t sure if he’s being laughed at or not, Shuichi can’t help but notice what a nice sound it is. Shuichi hopes he’ll be able to hear it again, but without embarrassing himself this time.

“I, uh, thank you. I guess,” Shuichi whispers the last part, staring down at his lap to hopefully mask how much Kokichi’s comment affected him. “Actually, now that I think about it… Shouldn’t you be going over to your actual table soon?”

They already have their food on the table, and Kokichi doesn’t look in much of a hurry, eating small bites and listening to Shuichi attentively. He didn’t get to see whoever was with Kokichi when he came in, since Shuichi was too deep into his own misery to look around, but it was very obvious Kokichi wouldn’t come unaccompanied. Especially with how much he was teasing Shuichi for being alone in the first place.

“Eh, not really! I wasn’t doing anything important.” Not what his clothes said, but Shuichi won’t point that out. “Besides, they’ll understand, especially after seeing you!”

“I’m… Not sure what you mean by that,” Shuichi admitted nervously. Did Kokichi have a habit of talking to people who looked miserable in restaurants or something?

“You don’t, really? Man, your self confidence is even lower than I expected!” Kokichi sighed dramatically, like the topic pained him greatly.

Which is a little unfair, since Shuichi is the one being mocked here.

“You’re making no sense to me, just so you know.” Shuichi fiddled with his fork, feeling the urge to sigh himself, but he refrained from it. “I just thought you’d have more relevant things to do besides talk to someone you just met a few minutes ago.”

“Low self confidence,” Kokichi repeated with a grin, looking way too amused about this. “Like I’ve _said_ , I don’t have anything important to do. Geez, Shuichi, don’t you listen to what I say?”

Shuichi opens his mouth to interject, because that is very much not true. His uncle didn’t raise him to be an impolite fool, after all. Not to mention that Kokichi’s voice was pretty nice to listen to, so not paying attention to it isn’t exactly an option here.

“That’s not—”

“ _Besides_ ,” Kokichi says forcefully before Shuichi can fully let his words out, “why would I want to be anywhere else but here with you tonight? You’re more interesting than most people I’ve met before, anyways.”

“How can you be so sure? We’ve only talked for maybe twenty minutes, at most.” Shuichi frowned a little. “I just don’t understand what you have to gain from this.”

“You’re being awfully insistent, Shuichi. What, are you trying to get rid of me so early? That’s not a very nice thing to do to your date, y’know,” his voice comes out dangerously wobbly at the end there, which manages to catch Shuichi very much off guard.

He is rendered speechless again, not only because of that, but… _Date_. Shuichi wouldn’t consider this a date, exactly; he was under the impression that it was like someone picking up a crying animal off the street out of sympathy and pity more than anything else, really.

But Kokichi said it himself, didn’t he? He’s been complimenting Shuichi’s looks and how interesting he is for the entire time they’ve been talking—well, at least when he isn’t busy teasing Shuichi for the whole online date fiasco.

Maybe it was okay to take one more risk today? His embarrassment can’t exactly get worse than this, so no way to go but up.

“Are you-,” he stops, not liking the wavering tone of his own voice. Shuichi takes a calming breath and tries again, “Are you flirting with me right now?”

Kokichi stares at him blankly for a full ten seconds, enough to make Shuichi’s stomach drop; maybe he got it wrong and Kokichi will be offended that he would ever think that, maybe he’ll just walk out without saying anything and then Shuichi will have to live forever with the shame. Shuichi is grateful that Kokichi can’t see how much his palms are sweating.

“Wow, you’re pretty slow on the uptake, huh?” Kokichi muses out loud, which doesn’t help Shuichi’s nerves. “Yes, Shuichi, I am. Been trying to for the past thirty minutes, but kind of you to notice.”

“Oh,” he says in an exhale, face flushed yet again. “Oh. I didn’t… Realize you were interested, like that.”

“I am interested in _like that_ , did you think I said you’re cute, like, at least five times because I was trying to cheer you up?” Shuichi was going to reply, but Kokichi must’ve sensed he’d say something stupid like ‘yes’, because he added quickly, “Of course not, it’s because you’re hot.”

“Oh, uhm, I think the same. About you, I mean. You’re h—, you’re attractive.” Oh, god, why was he stuttering so badly? At this point Shuichi felt like he should just scream for help.

Kokichi looks at him with a softer smile than any of the ones he has shown Shuichi for the night; it has a genuine feel to it, and it makes the other ones pale in comparison. That, coupled with the pink hue painting his cheeks makes him a lovely sight to look at.

“Let’s start over, shall we? Well, Shuichi, would you like to go on a date with me?”

“What?”

“I know this really nice restaurant, pretty quiet and reserved, probably your kind of thing. It’s not stupidly expansive and the food is really good, I promise you’ll like it.” Kokichi pauses with a thoughtful hum, but soon enough he’s winking at Shuichi and giving a small shrug. “But if you don’t, at least you’ve got me there, so we can make things fun.”

Shuichi smiles back, glancing around the restaurant, then back to Kokichi. He nods.

“Sounds like a lovely place. And, I’d love to go on a date with you.”

**Author's Note:**

> [Find me on tumblr @mamichigo](https://mamichigo.tumblr.com/)


End file.
